So! It’s Ace Week! My perception is that asexuality hasn’t been spoken about all that much until quite recently. But since 2010, Asexual Awareness Week has done it’s best to remedy that.
An asexual person experiences little to no sexual attraction and/or sexual desire. Like most things, this is a spectrum, from people who are repulsed by sex to people who enjoy sex but only with people they are emotionally attached to and all sorts of variants in between. You can read about the asexual umbrella here.
Valerie J. Mikles has put together a post with some links to asexuals in fiction, including a link to Claudie Arsenault’s Aromantic and Asexual Characters Database. I recommend having a browse through both for some really good reading.
Finally, a quick mention for my own The Flowers of Time. Jones is demisexual…she experiences desire for Edie, although we never find out in the book whether that translates in to more than simply wanting to give Edie pleasure. This is largely because I didn’t know when I was writing it :).
I have made A Small Secret Smile, the 2,300 short sequel to Flowers free this week at Payhip if you use the coupon-code FREESECRET at checkout.
Happy Ace Week, everyone!